Author…. ONYEKACHI PETER ONUOHA
Title.. moonlight lady
Publisher…karft book limited (Kraft griots)
Place of publication..CAL-BEZ PUBLISHING CO.(NIG).LTD.. KADHA STRESS, OWERRI,IMO STATE, NIGERIA.
Year of publication..2015.
Numbers of pages..75.
PLOT
What enrages me is the way women are used as extensions
Of men, mirrors of men, devices for showing men off, devices
For helping men get what they want. They are never there in
Their own right or rarely.
The world of the western contains no women.
Sometimes I think the world contains no woman.
JANE TOMPKINS- “ME AND MY SHADOW.”
I thought I saw two people coming! Now I know that I was wrong,
It is a man and his wife.
A JAPANESE QUOTE.
The modern African woman rejects tenaciously the stereotypical assertion about women as embedded in Tompkins and the popular Japanese quotes above. Feminism fights for the freedom of the female gender from the shackles and clutches of the patriarchal society, therefore acting as consciousness raising; giving the female gender voice and place in the male dominated society. It is a theory and movement of female liberation.
Feminist theory and criticism could be dated back to 1919, when Virgin Wolf, a British scholar, teacher and early feminist, wrote her text entitled A ROOM OF ONE’S OWN. This work possesses some of the principles of feminist criticism. According to Wolf: “it is the male who defines what it means to be female and who controls the political, economic, social, and literary.”Simone de Beauvoir, in her work entitled THE SECOND SEX-1949 asserts:
In THE MOONLIGHT LADY, we are confronted with the portrait of the stereotypical patriarchal ideology of the female child – which the child is not worth being educated because her place in the society is the kitchen and eventually marriage. She ends up bearing the husband’s name and being no profit to the father, therefore she is not worth being given equal attention and opportunities like the male child. It is this stereotypical patriarchal ideology of the female child that Onuoha , in this novella, indicts and refutes. He sees the female child as equally important and advocates equal attention and opportunities for both Okwudiri and Ikukuoma.
Ikukuoma’s father, Mr. Chima, favours and loves Okwudiri because he is the male child and will carry his name forever. He treats Ikukuoma as a domestic slave. Ikukuoma amidst these stereotypes refuses to be consumed. To attain her feminist consciousness and assertiveness, she must break that patriarchal chain through education, revolution and assertiveness. Her father and the Poet Ambassador are the metaphors of patriarchal domination, inferior treatment, oppression, suppression and exploitation of the woman. They also represent the barrier s/ hurdles the modern African woman must confront and overcome in order to assert her place in the society. It is these issues that affect the female and prevent her from raising her head in the society that these novellas grapple with. Mr Chima sees no profit in female child education since her place in the society is the kitchen and a man’s bedroom. He sees marriage as her last bus tops. When Ikukuoma complains about being left with all the chores in the kitchen and calls for help from the brother who is watching movies with the father in the living room; the father becomes furious and thunders:
Mr. Chima gives complete attention to Okwudiri because he is the male child. Ikukuoma works relentlessly on her studies therefore asserting herself marvelously well in education. She outshines Okwudiri, the loved son, at JAMB. When Nneoma challenges the husband’s lack of interest in Ikukuoma‘s education; his statement confirms the height of his patriarchal ideology of the female child.
Boy to be called a man but the woman has no such societal
Task and demand, for she is the property of her husband who
Should work and foot her bills even if she is working. So, why
Should I encourage her when she the property of a man who
Will possess and take her away from the benefit of her father’s
House? It seems township has made you lose sight of our culture;
The place of a man in the society.
Though Ikukuoma does marvelously well at JAMB, the father refuses to sponsor her university education
Because she is a female child. Mr. Chima is serving money for Okwudiri’s university education. When
Nneoma discusses Ikukuoma’s university education with him; he becomes furious and sings his old anthem:
“Shut up! What does a woman know if not the four walls of the kitchen?
You wan t me to waste my hard earned money on a girl? She will either
Learn a trade or I will marry her off so that if her husband wants a graduate
As a wife he can send her to school.”
Ikukuoma and the mother represent the African woman who is oppressed, suppressed and exploited
By the patriarchal society. It is their feminist revolutionary consciousness and assertiveness that assert them as modern African women. Nneoma cannot get a university education because the father sees no profit in her university education. Now it is the daughter’s time and that same stereotypical patriarchal
Ideology is ensnaring her. These two modern women must free themselves from the clutches of patriarchal chain through feminist revolutionary consciousness and assertiveness .Onuoha, in these novellas indicts the patriarchal African society for its role in the domination, oppression and exploitation…
THEME/SUBJECT MATTER.
Feminision and woman empowerment. 2.. cultural identity and belongings.
Characters
1..Ikukuoma 2.. Joseph 3..Mr ugochwuku 4..Mr chima.etc.
SETTINGS
..1.. contemporary African city town….2.. Rural.
LANGUAGE’S AND STYLES.
Simple and accessible.
Conclusion.
The novel MOONLIGHT LADY by ONYEKACHI PETER ONUOHA. Is the time bond that hit the heart of African, patrachual culture through proving exploration.
RECOMMENDATION
The action been taken ,I encourage and readers to reflect on their own bases and assumptions and to join the struggle for more inclusive and compassionate world.
EXAM SOUP.
